Jerry Johnston: The Suicide Epidemic

Did you know that in the United States alone nearly 1,000 teenagers try to commit suicide each day? Dr. Jerry Johnston has spent over 30 years talking to young people about suicide and has heard literally hundreds of stories about kids who have died. As a young child, Jerry Johnston himself had a close call with suicidal thoughts. He developed bleeding ulcers so his family doctor prescribed valium and sleeping pills. After about ten weeks, in a drug induced depression he decided to kill himself. Jerry called his father, who raced home from work to intervene and help save his life and set him on a journey that would turn suicide education into a life focus.

Did you know suicide rates have been going up? Overall eight percent of high school students

said that they had made a suicide attempt in the past 12 months. Almost sixteen percent of high school students say that they had seriously considered suicide in the past 12 months.

Want to help rescue men, women and children? Want to be a lifeguard on duty? Contact Crossroads and let us know that you want to join our team with Dr. Jerry Johnston.

Jerry and Cristie Jo Johnston Get to the Bottom of the “Nones” Phenomenon

For years, Drs. Jerry and Cristie Jo Johnston have wanted to understand the “Nones” phenomenon—a gradual, global increase of those who are religiously disaffiliated or do not identify with an organized religion or church.

Researching the “Nones”

Religious leaders and communities alike want to know who are these “Nones,” and why this population is dramatically growing. So why are people beginning to abandon the religious traditions of those who came before them? The Johnstons try to answer all of these questions and more with their extensive worldwide research embedded in literature, television shows, digital curricula/teaching series, and their upcoming documentary.

Understanding the “Nones” Phenomenon

Through their research and productions, the Johnstons have found that the increase in religious disaffiliation is more prevalent in young American adults (ages 18 and older) from all types of backgrounds—regardless of race, ethnicity, sex, or the highest educational level achieved. Since the 1970s, an astonishing one-third of the U.S. adult population under 30—and one-fifth of the U.S. population—have identified themselves as among those who are religiously unaffiliated. In the last seven years alone, this number has increased from 16.1% to 22.8% of all U.S. adults; in the history of Pew Research Center polling, this is the highest number of adults that have reported a disaffiliation with organized religions or churches.

And Then There Were Nones

With this information in tow, the Johnstons have created through the digital and film medium an emotional and informational expose of this increasing societal problem—And Then There Were Nones (working title), which identifies the causes of religious change—while offering hopeful, thought-provoking solutions for this change. For more information about And Then There Were Nones and the Johnston’s on-going research on the religiously unaffiliated, visit http://www.jerryjohnston.com/.